


do not stand at my grave & cry

by introvirtued



Series: (i am not there, i did not die) [1]
Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft - Fandom, youtube - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Amnesia, Angst, Bounty Hunters, Canon - Video Game, Canon LGBTQ Character, Character Death In Dream, Curses, Drama, Drama & Romance, Dream SMP as a sort of MMORPG (kinda like SAO), Dream Team SMP Angst (Video Blogging RPF), Dream Team SMP Spoilers, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Everyone Needs A Hug, F/F, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Getting to Know Each Other, How Do I Tag, Immortal Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Immortal Lovers, Immortality, Immortals, Kingdoms, LGBTQ Themes, M/M, Magic, Minecraft, Modern Royalty, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags, Perpetual Reincarnation, Polyamorous Dream SMP Ensemble, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Post-War, Realistic Minecraft, Reincarnation, Romance, Royalty, Supernatural Creatures, Supernatural Elements, Time Travel, Time Traveler Karl Jacobs, Video Game Mechanics, War, Witch Hunters, Witchcraft, Witches, doppelgangers, immortal witches, other characters to be added - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-12 16:47:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28888608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/introvirtued/pseuds/introvirtued
Summary: A young woman's sudden appearance shakes the foundation of the Dream SMP. Who is she - and why is Dream so hellbent on her?
Relationships: Alexis | Quackity/Karl Jacobs, Alexis | Quackity/Karl Jacobs/Sapnap, Alexis | Quackity/Sapnap, Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream/Original Female Character(s), Clay | Dream/Wilbur Soot, Clay | Dream/Wilbur Soot/Original Female Character(s), Corpse Husband & Toby Smith | Tubbo, Corpse Husband (Video Blogging RPF) & Original Female Character(s), Dream SMP Ensemble & Original Character(s), Floris | Fundy & Wilbur Soot, Floris | Fundy/Original Female Character(s), Floris | Fundy/Original Female Character(s)/Original Male Character(s), Floris | Fundy/Original Male Character(s), Karl Jacobs/Sapnap, Original Female Character(s)/Original Female Character(s), Original Female Character(s)/Original Male Character(s), Original Male Character(s)/Original Male Character(s), Ranboo/Toby Smith | Tubbo, Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit, Toby Smith | Tubbo & Wilbur Soot, Toby Smith | Tubbo & Wilbur Soot & TommyInnit & Phil Watson, Wilbur Soot/Original Female Character(s)
Series: (i am not there, i did not die) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2118552
Comments: 6
Kudos: 51





	1. A Trip Through the Forest

**Author's Note:**

> Link to this series' playlist is [here.](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrmTTScvPIE1UCVwIbmUgJcdNXxteAIuN) Link to this series' Pinterest is [here.](https://www.pinterest.com/miacinematicuniverse/do-not-stand-at-my-grave-cry/) (please beware of HEAVY SPOILERS for the pinboard.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello. This fanfiction is set during Tommy's solo (December) exile arc - and I will be fleshing out the Dream SMP timeline of events as I see fit in (hopefully) decent ways that make sense to both me, the author, and you, the reader. This is technically a prologue - the first official chapter of dnsamgac will be longer. :)
> 
> All grammatical mistakes are my own. I do not own Dream SMP - nor am I the ccs, and I am not affiliated with them in any way. Logan Sanders vc: I'm just a fan.
> 
> Enjoy. :)
> 
> Also, for reference:
> 
> Nina Dobrev portrays Emma (and Emma looks as she does in Season 1-3 of the Vampire Diaries)

* * *

** Emma's POV **

* * *

Emma’s eyes fly open as a sharp gasp tears from her lips. The first thing she notices, asides from the pain in her head, is that she’s wearing an open-backed blue button-up shirt with a white necktie, a short white skirt with slits and a black belt, and a long black stocking on her right leg. Her left leg is left bare, weirdly enough. Short white boots with a half-inch heel are fitted onto her feet. None of her clothing has a spec of dirt anywhere, and her hair isn’t matted with leaves or anything like that. She looks - and feels  _ clean _ . Like someone just carried her into the forest and set her down gently. Slowly, the nineteen-year-old sits up, her hands patting her body cautiously before carefully wiggling her extremities, making sure she can still feel her toes and her hands can clench into fists. Nothing seems broken, thank goodness, but she doesn’t want to risk standing up yet. She’s in the middle of a forest, and cracks of sunlight just barely poke through the tall, looming trees. Despite the sun being out and high in the sky, it’s cold.

"Okay..." Emma mutters to herself, coughing a little bit, "...my name is Emma. I’m nineteen years old. I..." Emma’s eyes grow a little bit wide as sudden, searing panic crashes over her. She can’t remember anything else except for those two things. Even the date escapes her. Alarmed, Emma tries to think back to how she might have ended up in the middle of a random forest, but there’s nothing to grasp onto memory-wise. Heart pounding in her chest as panic fully sets in, Emma looks around quickly, struggling to comprehend her situation. Her head suddenly sears in agony, and she groans quietly, squeezing her eyes shut. The wind picks up around her as she bites down hard on her lower lip, rustling leaves. After a few minutes, the pain subsides, and Emma can breathe again.

Very slowly, Emma cautiously rises from the forest floor, straightening her skirt as she glances around warily. Emma swallows hard. She’s about to begin walking in a random direction when the sudden sound of a twig snapping catches her attention, along with the sound of footsteps. Two, by the sound of it, and a hushed voice. Wondering if these people may have had something to do with her predicament, Emma reacts in a blind panic and quickly hides behind a large oak tree, hoping that it's big enough to conceal her.

* * *

** Nick’s POV **

* * *

Nick - better known as Sapnap - keeps a spectral arrow notched in his trusty bow as he stalks through the forest, his sharp maastricht blue eyes scanning the underbrush for any sign of the rabbit he’s been stalking for two minutes now. So far, there’s no sign of it anywhere. His eyes cut over to Dream, whose cold plastic mask’s “eyes’” causes the younger to frown.

Dream doesn’t turn to look at him - he’s scanning the brush. “What's wrong?" He asks as he turns his head to the right.

Despite now staring at the back of Dream’s lime green hoodie, Sapnap represses the urge to shift in place. “Your mask has always been really fucking unnerving.”

He doesn’t turn around. “You always say that, Nick.”

“Well, I wouldn’t keep saying it if it wasn’t true. Which it is. Speaking of being honest, why did you decide to come on this hunt with me?”

If Sapnap’s being honest, he doesn’t know why Dream decided to go hunting with him. They’ve been friends for years, and Sapnap knows for a fact that he’s never really been one to hunt - or build residences. He paid NPC architects, constructors, and furnishers to design, build him a home, and then furnish it with their professional opinions - and add certain personalized touches here and there. These personalized touches included both the inside of the home, outside and land plot. Patches seems to really like the house, but she’s also an indoor cat. Sapnap’s been inside of it a couple of times - it’s nice. There are granite countertops in the kitchen, a flat-screen holo-TV is on the wall in the living room, a cozy sunroom in the back of the house (and a deck attached to it on the side), and there’s even a holographic fireplace.

Dream hums softly, lifting a shoulder into a half-assed shrug. “I wanted to spend time with my oldest friend.”

Sapnap rolls his eyes, ready to respond to his friend’s words when a loud noise suddenly catches his attention. Sapnap quickly weaves his way through the underbrush and into the small clearing where the noise came from, aiming his bow up to capture that damn rabbit he’s been stalking hopefully. Dream is hot on his heels.  Scanning the dirt for signs of rabbit tracks, Sapnap freezes entirely when he sees human shoe-prints pressed into the dirt. From the looks of them, they appear to be women’s shoes because there is a heel mark. Wait. Alyssa, Niki, and Puffy are back at L’Manberg, so it can’t be them... what the fuck?

“What the fuck...” Sapnap voices his confusion under his breath, looking back at Dream with a furrowed brow. Dream looks at him, then at the prints when Sapnap indicates to them with the tip of his arrow. Sapnap’s head snaps back over to the tree-line when he hears a soft groan of pain. He can’t pinpoint the location, though. "Um..." he glances nervously at his friend, “did you hear that, Dream?”

It’s impossible to tell what Clay’s facial expression is behind his mask, but it's something like neutrality if Sapnap had to guess. Sapnap has always imagined that even without Dream wearing his mask, his expressions would always be neutral. Dream isn’t one to scare easily... nor does he express emotions easily, either. In everyone’s mind, including Nick’s, Clay is the _person,_ and Dream is the _persona_ (but admittedly, he thinks those lines blur frequently). To Sapnap’s knowledge, Clay has never shown his face to anyone. Not even Sapnap, his oldest and closest friend, knows what Clay looks like. The only thing he _does_ know about his physical appearance is that he has dirty blond hair, which turns a few shades lighter in the summer months and then gets darker in the winter. A few strands of his hair always poke out from underneath his hoodie and from the top of the mask, and, according to Clay, he “always messes with the strands when [I’m] bored.” To the best of Sapnap’s knowledge, only he, BadBoyHalo, and George know that his real name is Clay.

Clay’s worn that same mask all the time every day since the first day they met each other - and that was eight years ago. Probably even before then. Despite his initial pre-teen curiosity ( why the smiley face ? was a constant question seared into his head for about six months), Sapnap’s never directly questioned Clay about the mask. Alex (Quackity) and Karl - Sapnap’s fiancés - both like to joke that he was probably born wearing that mask.

“Yeah, I did.” Without another word, Dream closes his right hand into a fist, sticks his pointer finger and middle finger out, and swipes his hand in a downwards motion. A quick, pleasant beep chimes as his inventory pops up, showing him his realistically-generated avatar. His avatar is dressed in what he’s currently wearing: his white plastic smiley-face mask, black leather fingerless gloves, an obnoxiously bright lime green hoodie with the hood up over his head, black jeans, and all-black shoes. There are seven categories next to his avatar in his inventory, which are all displayed vertically: weapons, bows & arrows, shields, armor, materials, food, and key items, in that order. Sapnap frowns.

“Dream? What are you doing?”

Dream doesn’t reply. He taps on the word “weapons,” successfully accessing that slot. The six other categories turn grey, signaling that they are not in use at the moment.

“...Clay?” Sapnap asks again, hoping that the use of his name will help him talk, but he’s only met with more silence. Sapnap’s nerves and frustration increase by the second. After scrolling down through the list for two seconds, he stops on a weapon (Sapnap can’t see its name from his angle) and clicks on it, which shows up inside its scabbard. As it is generated into the world, the item appears in a quick flash of pale blue light. The black, enchanted, leather scabbard appears on his back. Dream reaches behind him, drawing his maxed-out Netherite sword with a sharp  _ schling _ , Dread. Applicably named because a shudder crawls down Sapnap’s spine as soon as he lays eyes on it. The menu fades from sight a moment later with a small, quiet chime.

Sapnap swallows thickly past the lump in his throat. “You’re not going to hurt them, are you?”

“Not unless they give me a reason to.” Dream says coldly. Sapnap tries to ignore the little voice in his head that screams “danger!”

A thought crosses through his brain suddenly, which causes him to scowl deeply. Could it be Tommy? Dream appears to be reading his mind because he shakes his head firmly.

“No.” He says in that same cold tone. “It’s not Tommy. I’ve made it clear that he is forbidden from even stepping a toe on these lands. He’d be a fucking  idiot to risk it.” That’s right. He’s on his last canon life.

Suddenly, a girl with long brown hair wearing a blue shirt and a white skirt darts out from behind one of the trees in front of them, breaking out into a sprint as she blindly runs away from the pair. Sapnap’s eyes grow wide as he’s momentarily shocked into silence.

“What... what the  _ fuck _ ?” Dream breathes. Sapnap swears he can hear Dream’s brain screech to a halt as they stand there, caught off guard as they watch the woman run from them, crashing through the trees and brush.

"H...H-Hey!” Sapnap yells once he recovers, and Dream seems to be stuck in some kind of daze because he doesn’t immediately say or do anything, even though he’s _always_ the one to act first when situations arise. But his grip on Dread seems to loosen slightly. An alarm bell goes off in Sapnap’s head. Something’s wrong with Clay. Not Dream, who Tommy once called an “omnipotent, cruel God,” but  _Clay_. “W-wait a second!" He calls after her retreating figure, but she doesn’t slow down or look back at him. Sapnap curses colorfully under his breath, and his body physically prepares itself to chase after her, as evidenced by the burst of adrenaline that floods him.

"Le-Leave me alone, please, I beg of you!" She yells back without turning her head.

“We’re not going to hurt you!  _Wait_!" He’s about to run after her, but Dream suddenly grabs his arm and yanks him backward, keeping his hand wrapped tightly around his white shirt. Sapnap’s head whips over to him.

“Dude, why’d you do that? She’s getting away!”

“Stop. Save your energy.” He commands in an eerily calm voice. Nerves slice across Sapnap’s skin at the tone. It’s not one he often uses when Sapnap’s around. “I’ll go after her, and-“

Abruptly, an achievement notification box pops up in the corner of their eyesight. Quickly tapping on it and bringing it up, Nick balks at the words once he reads it. It’s... confusing, to say the least. Dream is simply staring at the notification - he seems to be frozen.

_ **??? has made the advancement [Stranger Danger!] - ??? flees from Sapnap & Dream** _

Again: what the fuck?

“Clay?” Sapnap asks, but Clay remains stone-still, staring at the notification. His friend doesn’t move. “What’s going on?” When there’s no verbal answer, he tries to get through to him by waving his hand in front of his friend’s face. Hopefully, it snaps him out of his uncharacteristic daze. “You lagging or something?”

Dream’s answer is to smack his palm away from his face with the back of his own hand. Sapnap winces, retracting his hand.

“Ow.” He mumbles.

Messages pop up from those currently active in the world - Tommy, Eret, Ranboo, Karl, Alex, President Tubbo, Phil, Niki, Wilboo, and Fundy. Tommy is still in exile. According to Dream, though, he still receives achievement notifications and sees chat messages - and private messages, which are called whispers. But he cannot chat to those outside of his exile space.

_ TommyInnit: [message redacted] _

Then, not even five seconds later:

_ TommyInnit: [message redacted] _

If Sapnap had to take a wild guess, knowing Tommy, he probably asked something along the lines of “what the hell?” and then “who is that?”

_ Eret: what??? _

_ Ranboo: Glitch??? _

_ KarlJacobs: woah, what? _

_ Quackity: Disculpa me??? _

_ Tubbo_: what’s happening? _

_ Philza: ? _

_ Nihachu: What? _

_ Wilboo: Ooh, is that a new friend? _

_ Fundy: Who is that _

The other members are apparently just as confused as Sapnap feels. He looks towards Dream, confused and hoping to get an answer out of him, but the stupid mask offers no hint of what emotions or thoughts are currently running through his friend’s head. Not to toot his own horn, but Sapnap feels pretty confident in his ability to read people -  _except_ _for_ Clay/Dream. As the saying goes, Clay’s always been a hard nut to crack, but his Dream persona is made of bedrock.

Without another word, Dream takes off running after the woman. Sapnap swears under his breath and rushes after his friend, stumbling over rocks that jut out from the ground and fallen branches. Dream makes his way through the forest effortlessly, avoiding obstacles and trip hazards like he was born to do it. If the situation wasn't so serious and confusing, Nick might've had a moment to be impressed with Clay's knowledge of the terrain and the ability to be so sure of where he's stepping.

“Dream!” Sapnap yells after him, his feet pounding on the ground and kicking up dirt. Clay has always been a swift runner - he’s about seven or eight Minecraft blocks ahead, and Sapnap is going at full speed.

He lets out a scream of shock as one of the trees mere inches in front of him explodes at eye-level. Shards of wood fly towards his face at break-neck speed. Sapnap digs his heels into the earth below him to stop his momentum. Then he instinctively grabs his white bandana and covers his eyes and nose with the cloth, squeezing his eyes shut and closing his mouth firmly. The shrapnel bounces harmlessly off the cloth and scatters onto the ground. His ears are ringing loudly as he stumbles back, drowning out every sound around him - including his own breathing. Shakily, he shoves the cloth up from around his eyes and nose, disorientated as he blinks a couple of times.

A muffled shout of his real name barely registers over the ringing that assaults his ears. Another loud  _CRACK_ happens a millisecond later. It sounds like wood breaking. Then there are hands on his chest. He’s shoved backward. Sapnap stumbles and lands on his back hard, his head snapping up. His heart leaps into his throat as the exploded tree quickly falls towards them. “Clay, _watch it!_ ” He screams to combat the loud ringing in his ears, instinctively bringing his hands up to shield his face, curling into a ball to protect his extremities as much as he can. There’s no time to scramble away. Sapnap squeezes his eyes shut as he mentally prepares himself for the physical pain of a huge-ass oak tree falling on top of him (and flattening him like a pancake).

But it doesn’t. A shadow suddenly falls over him, prompting him to open his eyes. It’s Dream. He’s holding Dread and one of his enchanted shields in his other hand. He moves his right foot back a pace and digs his heels into the Earth, grounding himself. As the tree continues to fall for another second, Dream swings Dread in an uppercut motion, then quickly takes a step back, raising his shield to cover his head. The falling tree seems to freeze in midair for a second, and then it splits in half. The two pieces land four inches away from Sapnap’s body with yet another resounding  _CRACK_. Breathing heavily and heart pounding in his throat with the quickness of a hummingbird’s wings, Sapnap slowly rises from the ground. His legs feel like jelly. Instinctively, he looks down at his diamond engagement rings. He has Alex’s on his left hand and Karl’s on his right. Relief floods him, his shoulders sagging as a soft exhale passes from his lips. Neither ring was damaged.

Dream turns around and quickly looks him up and down for any injuries. “Are you okay?”

Sapnap swallows hard, placing a hand over his racing heart as he tries to calm down. “Y-yeah,” he says shakily, “I’m okay. I-I know I have three lives, but...” Sapnap tries to start a joke to break the tension, but the words die in his mouth, and he ends up only trailing off awkwardly. When Dream tilts his head in a silent prompt to continue his train of thought, Sapnap barks out a shaky laugh. “That... it would’ve been fucking embarrassing if I lost my first life to a randomly  exploding _tree_.” He imagines the corners of Clay’s mouth tilting up into a smirk, which makes him feel a little better. “So, um... thank you, Clay.”

Dream nods once in a stiff sort of way, de-equipping his shield. He then pulls out his menu and taps on his meals category. From Sapnap’s angle, though, he can’t see what it is. Dream taps an item. A red circular vial with a cork top - a health potion, Sapnap recognizes - appears in his hand, which he holds out to him. The vial looks comically small in his large hand.

“Drink, Nick.” He says in a tone that leaves no room for argument. Dream knows that his health is low because they’re in a party together. People in a party can see all their party members' health-points and names on the top left side of their vision. Currently, Sapnap’s health is in the low yellow region. If he were to get hit one more time, he would be in the red zone. Once your HP drops to zero, you’re dead and lose a life.

“I-I didn’t even realize...” He murmurs, taking the vial from his friend’s hand.

As Dream tilts his head to the side and stuffs his empty hand into his pocket, Sapnap imagines a wry smirk crossing his lips. “You rarely ever do notice your health. You should feel lucky I’m here, man. Saving your ass and all.”

Sapnap hums. “Yeah, yeah, dude. Whatever.” He huffs, sticking his tongue out at him playfully. Dream chuckles.

"What are you, three years old?”

“And a half,” Sapnap adds jokingly. That causes Dream to snort. After popping open the cork, he closes his mouth around the vial and tilts his head up, drinking it. It tastes ice-cold and refreshing. After drinking the contents, Sapnap’s health replenishes immediately to full. Once he pulls the vial from his lips, it shatters into hundreds of blue particles.

“Seriously, though, are you good?” Dream holds out his hand to help him up off the ground.

Sapnap inhales slowly, exhales deeply, then nods, taking his hand. Dream pulls him off the ground, glancing at the split tree. Sapnap adjusts his wayward shirt, wiping away dirt from the back of his black jeans. “Yep.” Now that the threat of being crushed by a stupid tree is over, he can focus on the girl. Speaking of her...

“Where do you think she went?”

“No idea.” Sapnap blinks, pointing to one-half of the fallen tree. “You were a few blocks ahead of me. Did you see any TNT nearby?”

Dream shakes his head — a pit forms in Sapnap’s stomach.

“Do you think she planted TNT underneath the ground?”

Dream shrugs.

“A Creeper, maybe?” Sapnap tries to throw more theories out there. But he hadn’t seen one nearby... Another shake of Dream’s head makes the pit in Sapnap’s stomach turn into a stone. "Trees don’t just randomly explode like that - _unprompted_.”

“No,” Dream says in an agreeing tone, “you're right about that. They don’t. Listen to me. I don’t want you getting put in any more danger. Go back to L’Manberg, to your fiancés. I’ll go after her by myself.” Sapnap begins to protest, but Dream holds up his hand, and he falls silent. “Do it, Nick. We can swap theories about the girl later. .” Dream prompts, turning back around. "If she's dangerous, I'll figure something out."

"You always do." Sapnap murmurs. "Be careful."  He barely manages to add before Dream is taking off again at full speed. Still trying to wrap his head around what the hell just happened with the girl, Sapnap watches Dream’s retreating figure in stunned silence until he’s just a speck in the distance. With his head still spinning and a thousand questions burning in his mind, Nick begins the journey back to L’Manberg.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter first uploaded 1/21/21.
> 
> Chapter last updated 1/24/21. All grammatical.


	2. The Road Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> or: While Sapnap relays the events to his fiancés, Clay goes after the girl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own the Dream SMP - nor am I affiliated with any of the CCs. I only own my OCS, this story, & anything else you don't recognize. All grammatical mistakes are my own, apologies!
> 
> Thank you for all the support on this story so far, it really means a lot to me!
> 
> Another thing: I use Google Translate for translating words/phrases into different languages other than English, and *sarcasm* we all know how reliable GT is, so every time you see a *, that means it will be translated in the end-note with the original intended translation, rather than the unreilable (and probably wrong) GT translation.
> 
> Finally, before you assume this is going to be an autoship of Emma/Clay in the second chapter - it’s not. His description of her is incredibly relevant to the plot - please stick with me here, and you’ll find out why in due time.
> 
> Enjoy. :)

* * *

**Nick’s POV**

* * *

Sapnap sighs as he runs his fingers through his hair, closing his eyes. He shoves his hands into the pockets of his jeans and reopens his eyes after a moment. He has a small headache. He’s drained from the day’s events - and frustrated that he hadn’t caught anything as he had originally intended. He was going to make a nice A-class (outstanding rank) meal for a nice, romantic dinner. But there was a reason he hadn't gotten anything, what with the whole strange girl interruption. Speaking of the girl... well, she’s certainly interesting. Clay seemed to be interested in her, at least. Hopefully, he hasn’t killed or hurt her. Sapnap honestly wouldn’t put it past him to do something like that, given how paranoid he is about others. He trusts no one - _ever_. Pushing those disconcerting thoughts of him possibly murdering some poor girl out of his head, he runs his hand down his face before scratching at his forehead. Now that he’s home, maybe he can finally relax with his fiancés. He can already feel the tenseness in his shoulders begin to fade as he thinks about just being with them in their home. He’s glad that Alex said yes to being in their proposed polyamorous relationship when they approached him - he just clicked right with him and Karl. They couldn’t be happier now that Alex has two rings on his fingers and equal love in his heart for both of them.

”Hello?” Sapnap calls. “Karl? Alex? You guys home?”

”We’re our room!” Replies Karl, shouting to be heard from upstairs. “Come on up, honey!”

"Welcome back, Señor!" Alex adds helpfully. Karl's responsive laugh makes a small, relaxed smile pull at Sapnap's lips. He strolls past the kitchen and walks up the staircase. One of the restrooms is across from the top of the staircase. Sapnap turns left and walks down the hallway to his, Alex, and Karl’s bedroom door. The door is cracked open, and he can hear their voices coming from inside. He pushes the door open and grins at the sight that greets them. Alex and Karl are sitting on their bed. The room is bright and filled with natural light, and the holographic radio near their en-suite restroom is turned down low to create comfortable background noise. All of the curtains are open.

Home sweet home.

Alex is leaning back against a pillow that’s squished against the headboard. Karl is sitting on Alex’s lap, wearing the younger’s beanie on his head and playing with Alex’s raven hair. He's humming along to the song on the radio. Alex is smiling gently, and his expression is warm - he’s looking at Karl with all the love in the world. One of his arms is wrapped securely around his waist to keep him steady. He’s wearing Karl’s multicolored swirl sweatshirt, which is a little bit big on him. It's adorable. Sapnap's heart melts at the sight. He's honestly kind of glad that Alex vehemently rejects being called Quackity unlike Sapnap, who doesn't care if he's called by his real name, Nick, or his nickname, Sapnap). He can't imagine using the name 'Quackity' in a serious situation.

Alex moves his head when he hears the door open, and Karl turns around too, his eyes lighting up. There’s a fresh hickey beginning to form on Karl’s neck. Alex looks smug as all hell, and there's a pink dusting to Karl’s cheeks. “Hey, babe,” Alex says cheerily. “How’d it go?”

He doesn’t answer straight away because he doesn’t know where he should start. With the girl, or with Clay's odd behavior concerning her? Maybe he should mention the stupid tree? His silence must concern his fiancés' because they share a look and frown when they look back at him.

“Nick,” Karl says gently. Sapnap knows that tone all too well. It's the concerned mother-hen tone, which he uses whenever he or Alex do some stupid shit. He’s no longer relaxed (a part of Sapnap hates himself for ruining the lighthearted mood). Concern is ringing clear in his body language now, and Alex is frowning deeply, mouth screwed up like he just sucked on a lemon, “why aren’t you-“ Karl cuts himself off as Sapnap rockets towards their bed and flops down onto the mattress next to them. He rests his head on his hand and exhales shakily.

Instantly, Karl is clambering off of Alex’s lap, making the youngest of the three whines in protest, but Karl ignores that as he pulls Sapnap onto his lap. Too drained and confused to protest, Sapnap lets himself be plonked onto his fiancé’s lap. Karl wraps his arms around his waist, and Alex shimmies next to them, sitting criss-cross applesauce. Sapnap recognizes the pair of sweatpants Alex is wearing as his own. But that doesn’t shock him, because they steal each other’s clothes a lot. His deft fingers carefully unwrap the bandana from around Sapnap's head, and Karl murmurs “handsome” under his breath affectionately. Alex ties the bandana around his own head and grins while fixing his hair.

Karl looks at him and laughs quietly, reaching out to squish Alex’s face with his pointer and middle fingers on one side of his mouth and thumb on the other. It makes his mouth do a weird movement, and Alex lightly swats Karl's hand away, and the limb reaches over to swipe through Sapnap's hair. “You two are very handsome.”

”You know it.” Alex says heartily, leaning over to kiss his cheek, then Karl's forehead. Sapnap melts into the touch, closing his eyes.

"Nick," Karl prods, "seriously, though, what's wrong?"

Pulling away from his lovers' embraces, he looks them in their eyes. "Dream accompanied me on my hunt."

Immediately, Alex's expression sours awfully, like he just witnessed someone kicking a puppy. "Dream did." He says it as a statement rather than a question, filled with vexation. Sapnap hums, and Alex groans in annoyance, laying on his back, staring up at the ceiling. He begins muttering what Sapnap can only assume is a string of curses in his Spanish. His mumbled words are too fast for Sapnap's brain to even begin to translate whatever the hell he _is_ saying. Karl looks at Sapnap wearily.

He and Dream have always had a negative relationship. It understandably worsened when Tommy was exiled just two mere days ago, to the point where he stated that if Dream came over to their house, he would stay locked up in their bedroom and refuse to interact with Clay. When he had come over yesterday - the morning after Tommy's exile from L'Manberg, Alex didn't eat dinner with Karl and Sapnap (their guest didn't eat with them; he claimed to have eaten before coming over for a visit). Alex refused to look at Clay in his (masked) eyes, or at him in any capacity. He only went downstairs once the entire time, and that was to get a glass of water and put the dish he had used in the sink, all while Dream, Karl, and Sapnap watched his movements from the living room in confused silence. Then he retreated to their bedroom once more without a single word spoken to any of them. He simply acted like Dream wasn't even there. Only when their guest left in the early hours of the morning did Alex finally walk around the first floor of their home again; but not before dramatically busting out the sage and waving it around the first floor of the home, and anywhere he might've "corrupted".

"It... it can't have been that bad, right?" Karl asks, tilting his head to the side. "I mean-"

"We stumbled upon a young woman in the woods." He interrupts. Okay, he hadn't _meant_ to say that. It just kind of came out. But there's no stopping now, he supposes. "And she _definitely_ wasn't an NPC or the three girls who we _know_ live in the SMP."

Instantly, Alex rockets back up into a sitting position like someone just poured ice water on his head, his hands resting on his knees as his eyes grow saucer-wide. Karl gapes at Sapnap like he just suddenly sprouted another freaking head.

"Seriously?" "Woah, what?" His fiances chorus in equally shocked tones.

Grimacing, Sapnap nods. "Yes."

”Is _that_ what the notification was about?” Karl inquires. “The one that Ranboo thought was a glitch? That was the girl running away from you and Dream?”

Again, Sapnap nods in affirmation. “Yeah, that was her. It wasn’t a glitch.”

Alex deflates. “So it wasn’t a glitch, and she’s not an NPC. NPCs don’t get achievements like us.” He looks down and sighs heavily, wringing his hands. He looks slightly upset, or maybe that's just annoyance on behalf of the subject matter: Dream. Sapnap can't quite tell. "That poor, poor girl. It won't be long now until everyone here gets a notification pop up saying that Dream killed her. That motherfucker." He murmurs. Karl gently pats Alex's shoulder. He looks up from his hands and straight at Sapnap. "Wait, hold up. Why aren't you there _now_ with him?"

Sapnap puffs out a breath. "He wanted to go alone." He says quietly.

"And you _let_ him?" Alex's tone is sharp and grating.

"You think I'm going to defy Dream like that?"

”You damn well fucking _should’ve_.” Alex fires back, anger bubbling in his eyes. Karl makes a quiet, nervous sound, biting down his lower lip hard. “Now some innocent girl is going to die by the hands of some psychopathic green-hoodie wearing piece of shit. That’s fucking _fantastic_ , Nick.”

Karl, ever the mediator, is quick to jump in. “Guys, let’s all just relax. Let’s not get worked up about Dream, okay?” He’s quick to change subjects. Sapnap is grateful for that. “So, what kind of meal were you going to prepare for us?”

* * *

**Clay's POV**

* * *

If you didn't know the SMP's layout as extensively as Clay does, it's eminently easy to get lost. While the maps are handy for situations when you're lost, he's never really had to rely on maps or compasses (unless the compass is pointing to something planted by someone else that isn't himself). He knows the environments around him as well as he knows the back of his hand. Winding cave systems will turn you around and keep you trapped within their deep depths for hours on end. Forests stretch on for what seems like forever and will probably make you go mad if you stay in them long enough. Deep dark oceans beckon you to sink far below until you're unable to resurface for air. The SMP's Nether is a nightmarish Hellscape in and of itself. For all of its architectural prowess (and some not-so-great architecture, but that's not important) and expansive, beautiful landscapes, this world can be ruthless. The fine line between the SMP being beautiful and the stuff of nightmares blurs on any given day. Karl once described it is as a "beautiful Hell," which is a pretty accurate description.

Clay walks at a steady, casual pace instead of the sprint he was going at. No sense in running blindly through the woods when the girl is probably hiding again - or she might not even be in this forest by now, assuming her hunger bar was at max, and she was able to sprint. He quickly glances at his hunger bar, which is located underneath his health bar. His hunger is down by two hunger bars out of ten. Deciding he'd rather fight (if it comes down to that) on a full stomach, he grabs an apple from his inventory. Turning the fruit in his hand, his fingernails dig little crescent shapes into the skin. After taking a look around, Clay lifts his mask just above his mouth and takes a bite of the fruit, not once stopping his stride as he chews. His hunger bar fills to max after he has a few bites, and he sighs quietly in relief. Still, though, he continues to eat it. After he's finished, the core is the only thing left. He pulls it away from his lips, and it breaks into blue particles. The pieces scatter into the wind.

He hadn't gotten a good look at the girl's facial features, given that she was turned away from them, but her hair was the first thing he noticed. Her outfit was second. She's also very short. Her hair is rather long - probably down to her waist if he had to guess. She obviously isn't a member of anywhere in the SMP because Clay would know if she was, and she doesn't act like an NPC. She communicates verbally... well... like everyone in the server, except for NPCs. But NPCs have translations in chat for their language. She also had a nametag, but strangely enough, it was completely blank. That confused Clay a lot more than he would like to admit, would _ever_ admit aloud. The exploding tree is another thing on top of the mounting pile of questions. Frustratingly enough, he doesn't have a metaphorical shovel. He's just glad he got there in time to prevent his friend from being squashed, probably to death. His fiancés would've chewed both of them out for being reckless. If he closes his eyes and thinks hard enough, he swears he can hear Alex cursing up a storm in Spanish while he and Karl mother-hen Nick, obviously out of love for Nick's wellbeing and hatred for Clay, but he _really_ couldn't give less of a shit about the latter. Alex and Karl aren't _his_ fiancés.

He'd rather not kill the girl before he figures out who she is and how she got here.

Clay looks down at Dread, turning it over in his hand and staring at the inscription of mythologies engraved in the hilt, which he had professionally done. The black blade looks as sharp and intimidating as ever. Deciding that the sword might scare her into fighting back immediately (and God forbid that he underestimates her strength; he's going on the assumption that she had something to do with the exploding tree), he reaches behind him and slips the sword into his scabbard.

Keeping his head on a swivel, Clay looks in every direction for any signs of the girl. He kind of wishes that he had a spectral arrow in his inventory - or that Nick had shot her someplace non-lethally with one - so he could see where she is. He strains his hearing for any verbal sign of her. Passing by a small cave system, he swears he hears a soft (human) whimper of what he can only assume is pain from its depths. He pauses, then backpedals until he’s standing at the cave entrance.

"Hello?" He calls out into the cave to test the waters and then waits for the girl's response. When there's nothing, Clay squints to see any sign of the empty nametag. To his surprise, it's there, but faint. Without a doubt, it's her. "Hey, it's okay." He says gently, and he feels like he's trying to calm a wild animal or a child. He even holds up his hands placatingly to show that he's unarmed. "I'm not going to hurt you." _But if she gives me any reason to, then I will_.

After a long pause that feels like a century, she speaks. "How do I know you are truthful, and you're not going to hurt me - o-or worse - as soon as I show my face?" She calls meekly from the depths of the cave. Dream notes her accent - her accent is like his own, Nick's, Cara's (Puffy's), Grayson's (Purpled's), Alyssa's, and a handful of others. Not like Toby's, Niki's, or Wilboo's - or Wilbur's when he was alive. "You and your friend chased _me_. Besides, I-I do not know you."

She's not stupid. He’ll give her that.

"You don't," Clay admits, because there’s no point in lying to her, "but you saw the weapon my friend had, right?” She nods, and he continues. “He could have shot you if he wanted to while your back was turned, or I could have told him to, but neither of us did that." He’s glad neither of those things did occur. Shooting her in the back while escaping them wouldn't help them get answers any faster, Clay imagines. He won’t lift his mask over his face for her, though, even if that will get her to trust him better. Showing his face to her - or anyone - isn’t on top of his to-do-list.

"And what about y-your s-sword?" Nerves dance around in her tone, but he can’t fault her for being nervous.

"My sword's away." He answers, flipping down his hoodie. He runs his hand through his blond hair absentmindedly.

“And where i-is your friend?”

"I sent him away, so he’s not lying in wait for you anywhere. Figured that it'd be less intimidating for you.” He didn’t want the girl to be scared - two intimidating men _did_ chase after her. While Nick might look intimidating, he's actually a teddy bear. Clay can't exactly say the same thing about himself, and he knows that no one else would ever see him as such. 6'3", built, and wearing a smiley face mask constantly. The way he carries himself is "scary," according to Nick and Tommy. They’ve only ever really been the ones to tell Clay he's intimidating _straight_ to his face. But Clay’s not blind. He knows that he doesn't scream “warm and cuddly. In fact, he probably screams “cold and prickly“ Everyone probably likens Nick to a teddy bear. Since the real him and his Dream persona blur together, Clay is sure that he’s likened a lion in the mind's eyes of everybody else. Maybe even Nick.

A couple of seconds stretch on for a little too long to be considered. He figures she’s probably weighing her options. Clay hopes he’s as nonthreatening as possible - minus the mask. He’s unarmed, and his potions aren’t in his pockets or clipped to his belt for easy accessibility purposes. Everything is tucked away in his inventory, but he's ready for anything. Slowly, the girl begins to move forwards. Clay can hear her boots scuffing against the cave floor as she shuffles out from the cave. As soon as she steps into the light, Clay’s heart skips a beat. She’s downright ethereal. She has dark brown, almond-shaped eyes, long eyelashes, olive skin, and long, dark brown hair that is pin-straight (and parted down the middle), stopping about an inch above her waist. Her hair is shiny despite spending who knows how long in the woods, and her skin is smooth and blemish-free. She has thin eyebrows, and her build slender. She’s also very short - she’s probably shorter than Niki by three or four inches and Cara by an inch. There’s not a spec of dirt or grime anywhere on her clothes or skin either, so that makes him _incredibly_ suspicious. For someone presumably having been in the woods for a while now, she looks like she just rolled out of bed. But now isn’t the time to dwell on those things.

Forcing himself to pull out of the sudden daze he was caught in; Clay swallows hard. “What’s your name?”

”My n-name is Emma.”

Instantly, her name-tag above her head is no longer blank. It now reads Emma.

”Hello, Emma. My name is Dream. It’s nice to meet you.” Clay greets in as friendly of a tone as he can muster, pushing his charisma up to eleven. His brain, though, is working a hundred miles a second over theories of how she showed up here. After mulling a thought over for a few moments, he pulls up his inventory, clicking on his meal slot. “Are you hungry?” When she slowly nods in response, Clay hums lightly and taps on one of his inventory items. A small, fresh loaf of white bread appears in his hand, wrapped in a white cloth. He unwraps the cloth a little bit and turns it in his hand, showing her that it's a plain white loaf of bread, in case she thought he was going to trick her or something. Intending to eat some freshly baked goods today during a lunch-break, he and Nick had stopped by Niki’s bakery and purchased a couple of things - including few loaves of bread, a couple of cookies, and two muffins. Luckily Dream offered to carry the food for their lunch. Now that the original intent of having the food is scrapped - Nick isn’t here, and Emma is hungry and probably exhausted from sprinting. Why would Clay let the food go to waste? Emma’s eyes immediately land on the bread, her eyes growing a little wide.

”Here,” Clay says gently, “we can share it if you want.” He grabs both sides of it and breaks it in half, deciding to offer her the bigger half, which is the one with the cloth wrapped around it.

Avoiding eye-contact, which Clay doesn’t comment about but makes a note of, a small, tan hand reaches out to take the food, pulling the loaf close to her chest. ”T-thank you.” Emma says softly. She inspects it, then lifts her head to eye him for a second (probably because she doesn’t trust him - maybe she thinks he poisoned it?), and slowly and gingerly takes a bite.

_**Emma has made the advancement [Literally Breaking Bread]. - Dream shares a loaf of bread with Emma._ **

A second after the achievement pops up, a flurry of comments and questions bombard the chat, including multiple redacted messages from Tommy, but he doesn’t care. He'd rather answer everything in-person. Emma doesn’t seem to notice the messages. If she does, she doesn't comment on them.

"I'm sorry," Clay blurts out earnestly, "for chasing after you."

After Emma finishes the food, she brushes down her shirt and then wraps her arms around herself in a kind-of hug. “Thank you, Dream. Both f-for the food and, um, the ap-apology.”

“Sure.” He pauses for a few seconds, weighing his options. Bringing her back to L’Manberg seems like the best option - or maybe he’ll have her stay in the Dream faction. Whatever the case, he’ll have to talk to _everyone_ beforehand about the situation, unless Nick has already. One step at a time. “Listen,” he says calmly, taking a small step forward, “why don’t you stay with us for a little while?”

”Us”?” Emma echoes hesitantly, frowning a bit. "Is it not just you and your friend?"

”No. We came from a country not too far from where we are now. We’re outside of its borders.” He explains. He swipes his right hand down in a similar fashion to how one would open up the menu, and a holographic map flickers to life in his hand, emitting soft blue light that seeps across the trees, reflects in Emma's brown eyes. “We were intending on hunting animals and foraging,” he points to the berry pouch clipped to his belt loop for emphasis, “when we ran into you. The country’s called L’Manberg.” She clearly doesn’t have any armor on her or in her inventory. Otherwise, she would have put it on by now, so that specific L'Manbergian rule won’t be a problem. Explaining everything might take some time, though. But the library is a chock-full of history, so that might be a good place to direct her to.

”A-are you sure? I don’t have anything to pay you back with, though, sorry...”

Clay immediately waves his hand, shaking his head dismissively. He's noticed that she sometimes stutters, which is fine. He doesn’t expect anything out of her, even though he usually would of others. Waking up in the woods and having two strange men chasing her is enough trauma. Speaking of that, he should probably tell Nick to apologize.  


“Hey, no, it’s fine. Don’t worry about repayment. I’m not just going to leave you out here to fend for yourself in the wilderness.” He's aware that what he's telling her is incredibly ironic, considering that’s what’s happening to Tommy. But... with Tommy in exile, the teenager won’t be able to mess with Emma - or Clay’s plans, more importantly. Clay looks at his health absentmindedly - he’s still at full health. His health shows up as a visual hit point gauge, along with numerical hit points (current/maximum), and level - Clay’s level is currently 90, and his health is 18,500 | 18,500. He looks up at the sky, then at the L’Manbergian time that displays itself in the bottom left corner of his vision. The white numbers stare back at him. 11:32 AM. Okay. If they leave now and there are no big interruptions, they’ll get back to L’Manberg some time around thirty past twelve.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Clay looks at her. Mobs aren’t really a worry this time of day, but you never know. The occasional monster might crop up, but not a mob. “Can you fight?” Emma frowns and gives him an odd look, clearly confused by the question. Clay dismisses the idea of giving her one of his weapons to fight monsters - for _self-defense_ , though, well... that isn’t off the table. “Never mind.” He says quickly. “Let’s get going.” He spins on his heel and then glances behind him. Emma still looks unsure, worrying her lower lip between her teeth as she contemplates his words. If he wanted to hurt or kill her, he would've done it by now. He's sure Emma is thinking about that. He doesn't raise his mask to smile reassuringly at her.

”Okay.” She says quietly, and they begin to walk towards L’Manberg. He slows his strides down to match his pace with her slower one.

Clay steps over a short, thin, fallen tree. Emma skirts around it. Off to his left, a creeper hole catches his eye. He ignores it, continuing forward. Within the vicinity of his hearing, he can hear birds chirping in the trees. It’s... nice. Lapsing into peaceful silence, they continue to walk through the forest for about three minutes. He inhales deeply and exhales slowly. Out of the corner of his eye, he looks at her. She’s taking in her surroundings intently. He decides he wants to get to know her better. After taking a few moments to double-check that there are no Creepers nearby because that would suck if their conversation was cut by a monster exploding and killing Emma. He turns his head and looks down at her - their height difference is certainly jarring.

”Emma?"

"Yeah?"

"Since we have a long walk ahead of us, why don't you tell me a little about yourself?" He suggests. He won't reveal much about himself - only what he's allowed other people (including Nick) to know about him, which isn't _anything_. He can count the number of things every single one of them collectively knows about him on just one of his hands.

Emma swallows hard. "I-I... I'm nineteen..." she falls awkwardly silent way too soon for just revealing her age to him, but Clay doesn't pressure her to say anything else, simply tucking the information away in his head. She's two years younger than him. Whatever she wants to reveal - or doesn't want to - is none of his business. They aren't _friends_ , after all. Suddenly, though, she stops walking, and he does too, and he watches as she wraps her arms around her midsection. The sun goes behind the clouds, and the temperature seems to dip ever-so-slightly without warning, and she sighs. "I... um... I..." Clay arcs an eyebrow, expectantly waiting for her to continue her sentence. To his disappointment, she doesn't. "N-never mind..." He frowns, still confused. He's unsure whether or not to pry - she seems colossally bothered as per her expression and awkward trail-off. Still, he won't want to pressure her into talking about something she doesn't want to just to satiate his own curiosity. Whatever.

"You're two years younger than me." He mentions. Emma nods, some of her chocolate brown hair falling in front of her left eye, which she brushes back and tucks behind her ear. For the first time, Clay notices that she's not wearing any earrings. Clay opens his mouth to ask another question, but he's interrupted by the sound of a low, inhuman growl, followed by more. He stops moving at once, instinctively taking out Dread. His senses crank up to eleven as he scans the woods for any sign of enemy-behavior movement.

After five tense seconds, footsteps sound, gradually becoming louder. The growls and groans are too. A pack of zombies and armed skeletons with bows burst out of the woodwork. They make their way toward the pair. He does a quick head-count: four zombies and four armed skeletons. None of the zombies have weapons, but three of the bows that the skeletons have are enchanted.

"What the heck?" Emma whispers her breath stuttering slightly. "Those are u-undead. That shouldn't be possible..." She sounds shocked.

Clay's head is spinning, both from Emma's words and the shock of the enemies coming closer with the intent to kill. Why are monsters spawning here? It's nearly noon, so monsters shouldn't be spawning at this location at this time of day. They aren't burning because of sunlight exposure. He can't afford to think about it now - he has to act quickly. "No time for an explanation. Be on your guard." He orders Emma, and a rush of adrenaline surges through his veins as he physically prepares to fight. She nods and sidesteps behind him. Clay takes a deep breath and aims his sword at the zombies first. With the long-ranged combat, it'll be harder for the skeletons to shoot if he's up close to them, but... the zombies are a worry, too, because they hit hard up-close. He takes out his crossbow and holds it in his other hand, rushing the enemies. He fires an arrow at the closest zombie's head — the arrow whistles as it sails through the air, embedding itself into its brain. Clay then readies his sword and lunges at a skeleton. He swings his blade at its neck and rips his sword out (away from his body), cutting its head clean off. He steps back and ducks underneath an arrow fired from a skeleton standing between two oak trees. The arrow flies over his head, and Clay spins on his heel, slicing a zombie's head off from its shoulders. Dark red - nearly black - blood spurts from its neck and freckles onto his mask.

Instead of letting the body drop, he grabs its blue shirt to use it as a projectile shield and fires his crossbow once more at that same skeleton's head - it misses, and the arrow embeds into the tree next to his intended target. Clay curses, shoving his makeshift zombie shield at the skeleton - the momentum causes the body to crash into the skeleton, sending them to the ground. He quickly rushes over to the skeleton he just forced to the ground and beheads that one. He's ruthless. A part of him is still hyperaware of Emma standing mere feet behind him, defenseless. He won't let the monsters go near her. Breathing heavily, he spins around and rushes towards the third zombie. Adrenaline makes him sharp.

The sound of a bow's drawback alerts him to the skeleton behind him. He spins around, but he’s too slow. An enchanted arrow sticks into his sword shoulder, sticking _out_ of it. Blood stains his sweatshirt, and he’s able to see a red virtual gash from the exit wound, signifying he's injured visually. Red polygons break away from his skin, a sign he’s been hurt. Clay grunts in pain and grits his teeth, his sword lowering as his dominant arm becomes useless. He can instantly tell that the arrow was fired from a power-enchanted bow because his health dips from 18,500  to 18,350from the single arrow in his shoulder. He _definitely_ felt that. Damn it.

”Dream!” Emma cries, worry in her expression. Clay exhales shakily and fires an arrow at the offending skeleton’s head. It misses its intended target - the center of its forehead - by a half-inch, but it still collapses. Emma takes a small step forward to help him, but Clay shakes his head immediately.

“No, stay there!” He says sharply. His trembling hand drops his crossbow on the ground. Praying it didn’t become jammed, Clay reaches up and wraps his fingers around the shaft of the arrow, crying out in pain as he pulls it free from his shoulder. “Shit!” He hisses in pain, but he doesn’t have time to waste on healing - he has to fight the mob. There are two zombies, and one skeleton left. He can do this. He’s faced tougher odds, been in stickier situations. He won't lose to a few monsters. Clay spins around and looks at the final skeleton. This bow is thankfully non-enchanted. It fires another arrow at him, but Clay is quick to sidestep before it can hit him.

He grabs his crossbow from the ground with his left hand and raises it to eye-level, aiming it at the damn thing. He doesn't even think - he just fires the weapon twice in quick succession - one at the skeleton's hand to make it drop the bow, which clatters to the Earth, then one at its head. The arrow hits its mark and the skeleton collapses, breaking into hundreds of polygons. Only two more zombies left. The pain in his sword shoulder has subsided, allowing him to raise his sword. The zombies snarl at Clay. He raises his sword before stabbing Dread at it. It sticks into the zombie's torso, and with a shout, he drives the weapon from the front of its body to the back. The blade protrudes from the back of it, straight through the spinal cord, staining the back of its shirt with its black blood - and Dread. The zombie dies as Clay begins to pull the weapon out of its torso. The fourth and final zombie is five inches away from Clay. Its rotten hands reach out for him, trying to grab and bite him. He's quick to slice Dread in a sweeping motion. The blade cuts the zombie's wrists off cleanly. The zombie growls in pain. Another spurt of black blood gets on his mask from the stumps. Gritting his teeth, Clay takes a small step back before violently swinging Dread at its head. The blade lodges itself into the center of its forehead like a hot knife going through room-temperature butter.

After the zombie breaks into polygons, Clay takes a few more steps back to put some distance between him and any more potential enemies that have shown up. His breathing is ragged from adrenaline. He hadn't leveled up, so his heath isn't full anymore. It's still at 18,350. None of the monsters had dropped any loot. Turning in a circle, he only relaxes when there's no sign of any more immediate danger. He promptly walks back over to Emma, sheathing Dread and putting away his crossbow.

"Are you okay?" He asks, instinctively looking her up and down for any sign of injuries.

Emma exhales shakily. Her eyes are still wide - he realizes he has some explaining to do regarding those monsters. He doesn't know how she feels about him now given the violence he just displayed, but... well, she didn't scream when he came near her, nor ran, so that's good. "Y-yeah. Are _you_?"

Clay nods. His shoulder no longer hurts, which is good. "Come on. We should get back to L'Manberg before we're swarmed again."

Clay and Emma walk back to L'Manberg in relative silence, and Clay only speaks to answer some of Emma's questions regarding those monsters. He even allowed Emma to join his and Nick’s party. She’s level one and only has 250 health. When they approach the borders, an incoming call alert sounds, and the nonfiction to either answer or decline pops up in the small alert window that materializes in front of his hand. It’s Nick. He reaches out and clicks “answer”. The window shrinks and is now visible underneath his health and hunger bars.

”Hello?” Dream asks.

“Hey, man.” Greets Nick. “Are you nearby?”

”Yeah, we’re at the gates right now. The girl’s with me. Her name’s Emma.” He glances at her. She’s looking over at him and frowning a bit. “Hey, can you do me a favor?”

”Sure. What’s up?”

"Where are you?"

He hears the sound of Nick either sitting up or leaning back against something. "Uh, I'm with Alex and Karl at our house. Why?"

”There’s been some unforeseen developments. I want you, Alex and Karl to gather everyone to the city center. And I mean _everyone_.”


End file.
